The Turks and Caicos Islands Civil Service is pleased to welcome and congratulate its new batch of teachers, notably, 8 new local primary school teachers that began their journey at the start of this new school year.

During the month of October, Deputy Governor and Head of the Public Service HE Anya Williams conducted a series of school visits which presented the opportunity to engage with both students and faculty. During her visits, HE Williams presented the new teachers with their very own “Teachers Starters Pack” which included: a lesson plan, a record book; chalk and eraser set; red pens to assist in marking; reward stickers to motivate their students and a number of other items that will assist in carrying out their duties.

Commenting on these appointments, the Deputy Governor stated; “We are pleased to congratulate all new teachers on their appointments, but would especially like to recognize our new local appointees:

This is the largest batch of local teachers that we have recruited for some time and we are pleased to state that not only did most of these persons complete their studies at the Turks and Caicos Island Community College, but also that some of them were actually serving civil servants in other capacities that decided to take advantage of the training and educational opportunities available to them, to pursue other career choices such as the much needed area of Primary Education.

The Ministry of Education remains our largest and most vital employment sector and we continue to encourage persons to pursue the field of teaching as it is in heavy demand and often relies on overseas recruitment as we are unable to fill the current demand locally, despite this being a key scholarship area.

As we continue to improve and to build new schools in the Turks and Caicos Islands, it is important that we work to match our employment demands locally. The area of teaching continues to be a priority area for us as a country and we continue to work to improve the pay and well-being of teachers in these islands. In 2014, through the Pay and Grading Review, we provided primary school teachers with a 25% increase in pay, having upgraded teachers’ salaries from $25,000.00 to $35,000.00 per annum and Vice Principals and Principals by over 50% from $29,000.00 to $45,000.00 per annum, but there is of course still much more to do .

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure to meet with the newly formed Teachers Association. We discussed some of the challenges in the teaching sector and ways in which we can encourage more persons to pursue the field of teaching. Challenges raised included salary, long term benefits, teacher to student ratios, infrastructure and equipment. Most of these areas are currently being addressed as most schools, particularly those damaged during last years’ hurricanes are slated for repairs in the current financial year and in the case of student teacher to ratios, additional teachers and teaching assistants are being proposed to assist, while the construction of the new primary school from the EU fund, should also assist in providing more classroom space to ease in overcrowding.

We welcome these new teachers to the public school education sector and hope that they will find their tasks to be rewarding. We also extend our sincerest thanks and gratitude to all teachers throughout the islands on the amazing job that they do every day in helping to educate, nurture and develop the future minds of the Turks and Caicos Islands.”